What’s going on in our world? Every day things seem to be getting worse. People are losing their jobs, the stock market is down, the banks are teetering on collapse, and it seems that things are simply spiraling downward. Someone even recently told me that the end of the world is coming soon. I asked, “How do you know?” She said, “Look at all the horrible things happening in our world.” I certainly see her point. What’s worse is that it seems to be a rigged game. You know a con game like “Three card Monte”. It seems to me that the people or agencies that our country has long entrusted as keeping society safe have failed us. Crime is rampant. Oh, I’m not talking about “old fashioned” crime of break-ins, theft, even violence, although we have plenty of that. I’m talking about the criminals who have robbed our retirement accounts, savings, and allowed systems to enable unscrupulous people to profit from it all. Much of this “white collar” crime is to blame for our country’s economic and social problems, even the world’s problems. It seems that the world has become more and more Darwinian, survival of the fittest. The Golden Rule seems to be “he who has the gold rules!” And the question is what can we do about it?
Conventional wisdom seems to be at a loss here. I have listened to smart people debate the issues that are in front of us. Little has changed. Maybe we must begin to acknowledge that our problems are not new. I am not a prophet of gloom and doom. I am a realist who
looks at the world my children and grandchildren will inherit and I wonder what it will be like for them. History tells us that ancient Rome fell and many, many other empires have come and gone. If we are going to continue, things must change and change soon.
Our society has to begin to realize that people matter, especially the common person. Jesus tells the story of the widow who gave her last two coins to the church in Luke 21. Jesus’ point is not that the poor widow has given all that she had, the point of the story is… SHE SHOULDN’T HAVE BEEN OUT OF MONEY. Those who had wealth should have cared for her. This is not welfare, but true benevolence to someone who was in need. It was more important to take care of the widow than to show off their wealth. All of the people whom Jesus is speaking to think they are “good people”. They have forgotten to be sure that the widow has not only enough to put in an offering to God, but she should not be down to her last coins in the first place. Most folks want the basics of a good life. Most folks are willing to work for those benefits. But our government has to ensure that the system is at least fair. Isn’t that what we want a fair system where we can make the best of our opportunities? We may not strike it rich, but we want a chance to prosper and rear our families.
How warped has our society become? I have a friend who worked for an NFL football team. Last Monday he got laid off as a “cost cutting move”. Meanwhile the team negotiated a 40 million dollar deal with an offensive lineman. Yep, they needed his meager salary and
took the chance that such a move might ruin his family. Ironically, the team sought him out to hire him because of his skill. He just happened to be the last hired in his department, it had nothing to do with his performance at all. That’s just business. I wonder what Jesus would say about that?
Will the world end soon as my friend said? I don’t know, but I do know that our society must wake up and begin to look out for its most precious resources, people and prayer. I hear the words of Maximus from the movie Gladiator… “There was once a dream that was Rome, it shall be realized.” Maybe we can recover the dream that once was America. God help us.
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